1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a software application program that interfaces with a statistical data recording program to provide an operator with selected data items compiled from multiple recorded data sources relevant to a given situational current state of a real-time event or activity.
More specifically, the present invention is a software application program that embodies an intelligent interface between a statistical data recording program and a plurality of recorded data sources that is operatively equipped to intelligently identify, select, organize, prioritize, present and recommend data items relevant to a given situational current state of a real-time event or activity. Compiled relevant data items are presented to an operator of the intelligent interface program within a graphical user interface (GUI) to enable the operator to quickly and easily select one or more relevant data items from a list or table for instantaneous display on an electronic display board for viewing by a viewing party or public. Compiled relevant data items presented by the intelligent interface program and selected for display by an operator may include statistical data, text messages, visual and textual digital graphics, and similar such data.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electronic display boards, such as sports scoreboards, are known in the art. Display board operators typically present textual and graphical information on electronic display boards during real-time events and activities such as sporting contests for viewing by a viewing party or public, thereby to provide information that heightens, enhances or informs the experience of the event.
Statistical data recording application programs also are known in the art. Application programs of this kind typically are used to record statistical information relating to real-time events and activities such as sporting contests. Recorded statistical data created or modified using statistical data recording programs typically is maintained in one or more electronic databases that are continually updated as new statistical data is generated. By way of example, statistical databases for a baseball league might include league standings, team standings, team statistics, player statistics and box scores of games.
In real-time events or activities such as professional sports, electronic display boards such as sports scoreboards are used to display current information about a sports contest or game such as the game clock, the game period, the current score, the current state of play, and similar such information. Typically, electronic display boards at professional sporting events also are used to enhance the experience of patrons by displaying information relevant to the situational current state of a game in progress, such as statistics for a given team or player or contestants, text messages providing items of interest or information to viewers and similar information. For example, a situational current state of a real-time event such as a baseball game might be a match-up between a particular pitcher and a particular batter. Information relevant to this particular situational current state might include the batter's seasonal batting average against the pitcher, the batter's career batting average against left-handed pitchers, the batter's home games batting average versus away games, the pitcher's earned-run average against both the particular batter and the batter's team, and so forth. Additional situational information may include contestant or team standings, player career statistics, historical information relating to previous contests between the two teams, and leaders in specific skill categories.
By way of providing this information, an operator of an electronic display board must consult multiple data sources, which may include paper materials such as reference books, press guides, sports journals and similar sources, or may be hardcopy printed reports taken from digital data sources such as electronic databases and Internet websites. A large number of such sources may be available to the operator of an electronic display board and may contain a large amount of statistical information. When such data is available from digital data sources, the operator still must consult multiple screens or get printed reports from each source to get a good overview of the relevance of the data. Moreover, relevant data may not be easy to find and may not be easily viewed once found, particularly if data is contained in dense matrix tables and complex data charts. Browsing through multiple websites or a large number of printed information sources quickly and efficiently to identify data items relevant to a given situational current state of a real-time event or activity such as a sporting contest is a difficult and frustrating task, particularly when the situational current state can change instantly and without warning, making any identified and selected data no longer relevant. Furthermore, once relevant data items are identified and collected, it takes time to identify and select those that are most appropriate to a given situational current state and additional time to perform the actions necessary to convert or transcribe selected data items for display on an electronic display board for viewing. Finally, the outcome of using these methods frequently is subject to error.
To overcome these shortcomings, information in multiple data sources is compiled and organized prior to a sporting contest by data analysts who attempt to predict possible situational states that might occur and produce statistical tables and reports that will apply. Typically, a large body of information sources is available for use that must be manually reviewed, analyzed and organized for predicted needs. For the sake of efficiency, data analysts first establish minimum requirements that any data item must meet to be considered a candidate for inclusion. Analysts then identify the key data items within a larger body of relevant data items at their disposal that meet these requirements. The data then must be organized and categorized in a manner that allows efficient access for selection and display when situational states occur during a real-time event, such as a sporting contest, since any opportunity to relevant data items may quickly expire.
While these efforts are useful for condensing a large amount of available information in multiple data sources into a more manageable form; they also are time-intensive and labor-intensive. In addition, they do not address the problem of having to quickly identify data items relevant to a given situational current state of a real-time event or activity and quickly convert or transcribe them into a form suitable for presentation on an electronic display board before the situational current state expires and the period of opportunity is lost. The operator of an electronic display board must identify from the relevant data items compiled by data analysts those data items that are most appropriate to the situational current state of a real-time event or activity from potentially hundreds of statistical categories of data and then quickly convert or transcribe the chosen data items for display.
Since it is difficult to anticipate the many types of situational current states that might occur during a real-time event or activity, such as a sporting contest, and since situational current states can change very quickly, the type of relevant data items that are displayed for viewing on electronic display boards is often limited to the more mundane or broadly applicable data that is readily available and easy to present within the limited time available. Interesting and telling information that would enhance the experience of viewers, such as patrons and contestants of a sporting contest, typically is under-utilized or abandoned as a result of the inefficiencies of the prior art. Furthermore, any work that data analysts produce prior to a real-time event or activity such as a sporting contest may be compromised or devalued by unanticipated changes, such as player substitutions or injuries, changes in the batting line-up, or simply due to human error in the selection criteria.
In summary, the prior art is generally dependent on conventional means, such as manually compiled paper records and printed reports, to provide operators of electronic display boards with relevant data items for display relating to a given situational current state of a real-time event or activity. As a result, access to relevant data items corresponding to a given situational current state is slow and inefficient, opportunities to display relevant data items for timely viewing within an ephemeral period are limited; precompiled data by data analysts is time-consuming and costly to produce and subject to error; outcomes may become inapplicable or quickly obsolete, and the variety of relevant data items available for display is limited by the collective shortcomings of a deficient process. A novel approach to address these and other deficiencies of the prior art is needed to continue to satisfy public demand and thereby ensure continuing development of the art.
Means and methods novel and efficacious must embody automated tools that: (1) automatically generate and present compiled data items relevant to a given situational current state of a real-time event or activity; (2) automatically designate or recommend the most appropriate compiled data items based on predetermined minimum selection criteria or threshold values; (3) provide a preview of relevant compiled data items to enable an operator to choose the data items most appropriate to a given situational current state quickly and easily and to transmit chosen data items to an electronic display board for instantaneous display; (4) provide means to enable an operator to preview and select from a list of text messages for display and to create, edit and prioritize text messages in real-time; and (5) provide means for an operator to view data from other data sources independent of a given situational current state such as league statistics, team statistics and player statistics.